My initial reaction is that the Fire is awesome! Setup was essentially a non-event as the unit came pre-configured with my Amazon account information and library of e-books ready to read. The packing was minimalist and the getting started “card” was very Apple-like.

The display is crisp and the images are sharp. Navigation is easy and very intuitive. Unlimited video streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows is available to Amazon Prime members. Of course, some movie must be purchased for $2.99 and up.

The unit is heavier than I expected and feel very substantial, which to me means it should be durable. The Fire does not come with a case, so I purchased a nice leather case that, of course, can be contorted several way to serve as stand at multiple viewing angles.

Reading a book has all the convenience of previous Kindles – change orientation, font size, typeface, line spacing, margins, and color mode. I like the screen size which is the same as a paperback book. One thing I’m not sure about is how easy it will be to read in sunlight because of the glass surface, which seems similar to my iPad. And it is very difficult to use the iPad outdoors on a sunny day – too much glare. The forecast is for more rain tomorrow, so it may be a few days before I can test my Fire in sunlight. By comparison, Mary’s Kindle is easy to use outside on a sunny day.

The web interface is simple and there are plenty of options to manage your web experience. When you have multiple sites open, you can easily swipe the tabs at the top of the screen to scroll through the horizontal list of tabs.